Tonight's Movie: Road to Morocco (1942) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

ROAD TO MOROCCO (1942), the third film in the long-running "Road" series, is part of the seven-film On the Road With Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Blu-ray collection from Kino Lorber.

ROAD TO MOROCCO followed the previously reviewed ROAD TO SINGAPORE (1940) and ROAD TO ZANZIBAR (1941), and I can easily say it's the best of the three films seen to date.

ROAD TO MOROCCO has a more coherent plot than its predecessors, with a screenplay written by Frank Butler and Don Hartman. The songwriters, Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke, also worked on ROAD TO ZANZIBAR, but here they outdo themselves with the title tune "(We're Off on the) Road to Morocco," and especially the classic "Moonlight Becomes You."

This time around Crosby and Hope play Jeff and Orville, aka "Turkey." After being adrift at sea on a raft following their boat exploding, they make it to land in North Africa.

Before long they're entangled with Princess Shalmar (Dorothy Lamour), who proposes to Orville because of a prophecy that her first husband will die within a week. Shalmar wants to ensure that her true love Mullay Kasim (Anthony Quinn) survives...but then she falls in love with Jeff after he serenades her with "Moonlight Becomes You." Needless to say, Mullay Kasim isn't happy to learn he has a rival for the beautiful princess.

Orville is dismayed to learn the princess doesn't love him, but he's not left out in the cold, as pretty Mihirmah (Dona Drake) falls hard for him. Drake is a delightfully energetic performer I'm always glad to see turn up in a film. Offscreen she was married for decades to Oscar-winning costume designer Travilla.

Needless to say, the whole thing is pretty silly, but I liked that this film had more of an actual story than the earlier films, which were closer to a bunch of comedy bits strung together. Lamour and Drake represent '40s movie escapism at its finest, and viewers can even glimpse pre-stardom Yvonne De Carlo as one of Lamour's handmaidens. It's easy to imagine stressed-out wartime audiences loving this one, and I enjoyed it over eight decades later.

ROAD TO MOROCCO runs 82 minutes and was directed by David Butler. The director of the previous two films, Victor Scherzinger, had sadly died in 1941, a few months before production began on this film.

The movie was filmed in black and white by William C. Mellor. The supporting cast includes Vladimir Sokoloff, George Givot, Leon Belasco, Cy Kendall, Dan Seymour, and Nestor Paiva, among a number of other familiar faces.

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray is an excellent print. The disc comes with a trailer, plus a "Trailers From Hell" trailer commentary by director John Landis; a featurette on Bob Hope; a short, COMMAND PERFORMANCE 1945; and a commentary track by Jack Theakston.

This disc, like four other films in the set, has optional English subtitles; only ROAD TO RIO and ROAD TO BALI are missing subtitles.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray collection.

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Tonight's Movie: Teacher's Pet (1958) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

Newspaper movie meets "rom com" in TEACHER'S PET (1958), a terrific film just released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

I reviewed the movie here over a decade ago, in 2014, and if anything I was even more impressed on this viewing.

The two-hour script by Oscar-nominated Fay and Michael Kanin absolutely sparkles with a combination of great dialogue and excellent plotting.

The movie is played to the hilt by two of the greatest performers ever in the movies, Clark Gable and Doris Day, ably aided by Gig Young, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

Add in a great newsroom set and an excellent cast of supporting players, especially Charles Lane, and this is a movie which fires on all cylinders.

Day plays a journalism professor who finds herself debating Gable on the value of education versus experience. Gable's newspaper editor has come up the "hard way," without even a high school diploma. They initially start out annoying one another but before long they're appreciating each other's insights...and each other.

Gable and Day simply couldn't be better and have wonderful chemistry. Her reaction the first time he kisses her is classic comedy. They're each incredibly confident, assured performers and when they meet it's movie magic. The script is very good, but it's what these two pros do with it that's key.

Young is wryly funny as the psychologist who is initially Gable's rival but soon finds himself playing matchmaker for his two friends -- most of the time while nursing the world's worst hangover.

As I noted in my 2014 review, while some bits about women in the workplace now seem "dated" -- I think of it more as simply reflective of the era, for good or ill -- the movie remains quite relevant to the modern viewer, discussing issues like newspapers struggling to remain a going business proposition. Back then papers competed with TV and radio; now it's with not only TV but the internet.

One of my favorite things about the movie continues to be Charles Lane, sitting to Gable's left at the big table in the center of the newsroom. His very being adds tons of what we might call "gravitas" to every scene.

There are other familiar faces scattered throughout, including Marion Ross, Mamie Van Doren, Nick Adams, and Frank Albertson. Bess Flowers can be spotted in (what else?) the nightclub scene.

For a few more thoughts I'd like to encourage readers to click over to my 2014 write-up. Suffice it to say this is a terrific film and I highly recommend it.

The movie was directed by George Seaton and filmed in widescreen black and white by Haskell Boggs. The film was scored by Roy Webb.

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray is from a new HD master by Paramount Pictures from a 6K scan of the 35mm VistaVision original camera negative. Picture and sound quality are excellent.

Disc extras consist of the trailer; a gallery of eight additional trailers; and a new commentary track by Julie Kirgo and Peter Hankoff.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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Around the Blogosphere This Week

Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the Internet...

...It's a fairly slow week for classic movie news, but a few things of note! First, we had a marvelous time last evening seeing a very beautiful nitrate 35mm print of PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (1948). It was shown as part of the American Cinematheque's 2025 Nitrate Film Festival. Additional screenings have been added to the series, including a second showing of ROPE (1948); the screening we're attending next Friday sold out.

...The Film Noir Foundation has announced the dates for this year's Noir City Hollywood Festival. It will be held at the Egyptian Theatre from March 20-23 and March 27-30.  The titles have not yet been revealed.

...Kino Lorber Studio Classics made a very interesting "coming soon" Blu-ray announcement this week: The pre-Code NIGHT WORLD (1932) starring Boris Karloff, Lew Ayres, and Mae Clarke will be out in the future, from a brand-new HD master.

...I've been confirmed to review the new MGM Blu-ray releases of OUTPOST IN MALAYA (1952) and LADY OF VENGEANCE (1957), so be on the lookout for those. They should arrive in a few days.

...Toby has reviewed the new Criterion Collection release of WINCHESTER '73 (1950) at his site 50 Westerns From the 50s.

...For The American Scholar, published by Phi Beta Kappa, Noah Isenberg has reviewed former Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan's brand-new book LOUIS B. MAYER AND IRVING THALBERG: THE WHOLE EQUATION, published by Yale University Press. It sounds like a "must read."

...Speaking of books, last night at Larry Edmunds Bookshop I picked up two older books, THE CINEMA OF EDWARD G. ROBINSON, a 1972 book by James Robert Parish and Alvin H. Marill, and Scott Eyman's THE SPEED OF SOUND: HOLLYWOOD AND THE TALKIE REVOLUTION 1926-1930.

...At Comet Over Hollywood Jessica has reviewed CONSPIRACY (1939), a Lew Landers "B" film starring Allan "Rocky" Lane and Linda Hayes. Although this isn't one of Landers' strongest "B's," I'm always glad to see his work get attention; he usually managed to give programmers a little "something extra," and I'm always interested when I see his name in the credits.

...I loved Toby's memories of the CBS Late Movie, shared at The Hannibal 8. I was also a young late-night movie viewer, though more often I was up in the wee hours watching old MGM films on KTTV Channel 11 out of Los Angeles.

...For additional recent links of interest to classic film fans, please visit my February 8th column.

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Tonight's Movie: Houseboat (1958) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

HOUSEBOAT (1958), one of the very earliest movies I saw as a child, has just been released on a beautiful Blu-ray by Kino Lorber Studio Classics.

When I began tracking my movie viewing at age 11, the first thing I did was make a list of all the movies I could remember ever seeing up to that point in time. HOUSEBOAT was near the very top of the list, along with several other films starring Cary Grant; my mother was a fan, and we watched many of his movies together on local television.

Though I saw HOUSEBOAT countless times as a child, it had been a good long while since I last watched the movie, so I felt that I was taking it in fairly fresh when revisiting it on this Blu-ray -- and it holds up very well. It's not perfect, due in part to some silly slapstick, but it's solid; there's a mature storyline about meeting adult responsibilities and other issues, yet it's also easy to see why the film appealed to me as a young viewer.

Grant plays Tom Winters, a businessman who's been an absentee father to David (Paul Petersen), Elizabeth (Mimi Gibson), and Robert (Charles Herbert). Following his estranged wife's death, Tom determines to get to know his children better and be their full-time parent.

Tom is finding things rough going with his resentful children when Cinzia (Sophia Loren), the daughter of a famous Italian symphony conductor (Eduardo Ciannelli), stumbles into their lives. Tom has no idea of her background, but the children love her and he hires her as maid. Cinzia is happy to accept for reasons of her own, chiefly that she needs to get out from under her controlling father's thumb.

Tom, Cinzia, and the children end up living on a dilapidated houseboat -- it's a long story -- but despite Cinzia's lack of cooking and housekeeping skills, bit by bit she helps a previous broken family reconnect.

She and Tom begin to fall for one another, but his lovely, newly divorced sister-in-law Carolyn (Martha Hyer) loves Tom too...

The outsider helping a broken family heal is something of a familiar storyline, whether it's older films like FIFTH AVE GIRL (1939) and IT HAPPENED ON FIFTH AVENUE (1947) or later films such as MARY POPPINS (1964) -- but it turns up every so often for a reason: It makes for good drama.

Though some of the previously referenced slapstick humor gets in the way, this is a well-done film which actually is surprisingly dark at times. The children are clearly emotionally troubled and acting out in various ways, with David stealing and Robert clinging to a harmonica which he tends to play at inappropriate times.

Grant's Tom starts out rather unlikeable in the early going, a man who hasn't been around to be a proper father to his children; Tom's in-laws (John Litel and Madge Kennedy) have actually made plans to raise Elizabeth, with Carolyn taking the boys, when Tom decides he's going to do the right thing and step up as a parent.

Thanks to living in close quarters on the houseboat, and the aid of the stunningly lovely and charming Cinzia, Tom gradually unbends and gets to know his kids. A scene where Tom discusses death and life changing forms with David is particularly moving.

The conflict with Carolyn vs. Cinzia almost seems extraneous to the plot, though it does lead to a great scene where it hits Tom like a thunderbolt which woman is the right one for him. (And it's nice to see in the movie's final scene that there seem to be no hard feelings!)

Loren is a delight and really makes the movie; she was my standout memory from watching the film those many times as a child, and watching it again it's easy to see why. She's warm, funny, thoughtful, and of course gorgeous, particularly in a scene where she wears a gold dress to a country club dance.

The children are all very natural, especially Gibson, a favorite child actress whose many credits include THE OKLAHOMAN (1957) with Joel McCrea.

This 110-minute film was directed by Melville Shavelson from a script he wrote with Jack Rose. Grant's then-wife, actress Betsy Drake, did uncredited work on the original script, envisioning it as a vehicle to costar with her husband in the vein of their earlier ROOM FOR ONE MORE (1952).

Grant's affair with Loren while making THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION (1957) changed those plans, while Loren's marriage to Carlo Ponti during the filming of HOUSEBOAT gives this film quite a production backstory.

HOUSEBOAT was filmed in VistaVision by Ray June. Costumes were by Edith Head. The supporting cast includes Harry Guardino, Murray Hamilton, and Werner Klemperer. Look for famed "dress extra" Bess Flowers in a couple of scenes, including the final sequences.

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray print is from a new HD master by Paramount Pictures from a 6K scan of the 35mm original VistaVision camera negative. It looks and sounds terrific.

Extras consist of a pair of trailers; a gallery of eight additional trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber; and a new commentary track by Julie Kirgo and Peter Hankoff.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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Latest Titles Announced for 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival

This week Turner Classic Movies announced several new film titles for the upcoming 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival.

The festival will be held in Hollywood from April 24th through 27th.

The latest titles announced include:

*SERVANTS' ENTRANCE (1934) starring Janet Gaynor, Lew Ayres, and some terrific character actors, directed by Frank Lloyd

*DIAMOND JIM (1935) starring Edward Arnold and Jean Arthur, directed by A. Edward Sutherland

*BRINGING UP BABY (1938) with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, directed by Howard Hawks

*A GUY NAMED JOE (1943) starring Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne, and Van Johnson, directed by Victor Fleming

*RHAPSODY IN BLUE (1945) - World premiere restoration including previously unseen footage, starring Robert Alda, Joan Leslie, and Alexis Smith, directed by Irving Rapper

*BEN-HUR (1959) - World premiere restoration of the epic classic starring Charlton Heston, directed by William Wyler

*HUD (1963) starring Paul Newman, Patricia Neal, and Melvyn Douglas, directed by Martin Ritt

Please visit the linked posts below for more on this year's festival, including previously announced titles and ticket information.

Previously: TCM Classic Film Festival Tickets on Sale December 10th; New Titles Announced for 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival; Around the Blogosphere This Week (Robert Osborne Award).

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Happiest wishes to all for a wonderful Valentine's Day!

This year's Valentine's Day photo is a publicity still of Olivia de Havilland gowned as Maid Marian in one of my favorite movies, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938).

Have a wonderful holiday!

Previous Valentine's Day posts: Anne Gwynne (2014), Dorothy Hart (2015), Lynn Merrick (2016), Debbie Reynolds (2017), Marsha Hunt (2018), Dianne Foster (2019), Ann Rutherford (2020), Piper Laurie (2021), Arlene Dahl (2022), Cyd Charisse (2023), and Gail Patrick (2024).

Additional Valentine's Day movie reading: Ten Movies for Valentine's Day and Ten Movie Valentines for Valentine's Day.

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Tonight's Movie: Red Mountain (1951) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

Over the years a number of films have been produced about the renegade Confederate general William Quantrill, including KANSAS RAIDERS (1950) and QUANTRILL'S RAIDERS (1958).

He appears again, with his name spelled Quantrell, played by John Ireland in RED MOUNTAIN (1951), available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. To my knowledge this is the first time the movie has been available for home viewing in the United States.

RED MOUNTAIN is one of several very welcome Kino Lorber releases of Alan Ladd films in recent months, including other first-time U.S. disc releases such as SAIGON (1947), CHICAGO DEADLINE (1949), and BOTANY BAY (1953). Ladd fans such as myself owe Kino Lorber a debt of gratitude for making so many of his films available in beautiful copies.

In RED MOUNTAIN Ladd plays Captain Brett Sherwood, a Confederate soldier detailed to head west in the waning days of the Civil War to assist General Quantrell.

Along the way Sherwood saves a prospector, Lane Waldron (Arthur Kennedy), from being lynched for the murder of an assayer; we eventually learn that Sherwood is involved in the assayer's killing, but his motives are initially a mystery.

Despite Sherwood saving Waldron's life, Waldron and his girl, Chris (Lizabeth Scott), eventually take Lane prisoner; however, the balance of power between the two men swings back and forth, with Sherwood finally gaining the upper hand when Waldron breaks his leg.

Quantrell, having met up with Sherwood, is interested in obtaining the location of Waldron's gold claim, but Sherwood, realizing that Quantrell is now only acting for himself, not the Confederacy, does what he can to bide time and save the lives of Waldron and Chris, especially as he's developing feelings for Chris.

The film is interesting as a relic of the era when it was fairly common for Confederates to be movie heroes; Joel McCrea in BORDER RIVER (1954) is another example which comes to mind. However, while the film has a good Ladd performance and striking New Mexico locations, overall I was disappointed.

The script by John Meredyth Lucas, George F. Slavin, and George W. George, based on a story by Slavin and George, is extremely repetitive, with control shifting back and forth and back again between the Ladd and Kennedy characters.

Much of the film is set in a cave where Waldron and Chris are trapped and held prisoner by Quantrell; there's surprisingly little action at times, but a lot of talking. The film has a strong cast, yet they're trapped by a script that doesn't go much of anywhere, and when it does move forward, it's slowly.

None of the characters in this 84-minute film are provided with much back story, other than having suffered on their chosen sides due to the war, and Sherwood's attraction to Chris seems to develop out of almost nowhere. For Chris's part, she seems to abandon her feelings for Waldron incredibly quickly; I'd choose Alan Ladd over Arthur Kennedy too, but still...!

I found Kennedy and Scott less interesting than usual, whereas Ladd always manages to be compelling, even with little to work with. He does an excellent job moving from a man of at times ambiguous intentions to conveying his growing dismay with Quantrell; the script doesn't always help him but he's able to do a lot with facial expressions and the tone of his line readings.

While I found this film sub-par, especially given the cast, Ladd is always worth watching and I was glad to see this film on his account. By this time he's certainly moved into my top five favorites, probably third after Tyrone Power and Joel McCrea.

Ireland is good as the scholarly yet evil Quantrell, who doesn't blanch at killing anyone, and he plans to include Waldron and Chris among his victims.

The supporting cast includes James Bell, Jeff Corey, Walter Sande, Whit Bissell, Neville Brand, and Jay Silverheels.

The movie was directed by William Dieterle and the uncredited John Farrow, with Technicolor cinematography by Charles Lang. The musical score was by Franz Waxman.

The movie's Technicolor wasn't especially striking to me, but it's a fine print free of scratches or jumps. This Blu-ray is definitely the way to see this film.

Extras consist of a commentary track by Samm Deighan, plus a gallery of eight trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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Tonight's Movie: Juror #2 (2024) - A Warner Bros. Blu-ray Review

Over the last few years I've become increasingly interested in the career of Clint Eastwood, both in front of and behind the camera.

Eastwood, who turned 94 last May, most recently directed JUROR #2 (2024), which was released around Christmas last year; it had an inexplicably short exhibition window in a limited number of theaters and I wasn't able to catch it then.

It was released on an "MOD" Blu-ray earlier this month, and I was glad to have the chance to see it.

That said, while being a "glass is half full" viewer and an Eastwood admirer, I watched much of this movie's 114 minutes in a state of disbelief, as I couldn't believe the plotting, especially the way Jonathan Abrams' script consistently skirted around the way trials are actually conducted.

Abrams comes right up to the line of acknowledging the story problems by working mentions of the issues into the script, but it really didn't work, at least not for me.

In order to address my issues with the film, I'm going to talk about problems I had with the plot with more specificity than I often do. Please consider this a spoiler alert for anyone who doesn't wish to know the plot to stop reading here and come back to compare notes after seeing the movie.

As the movie begins, recovering alcoholic Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) and his wife Allison (Zoey Deutch) are nearing the due date for their first child. It's an anxious time, as it's a high-risk pregnancy after Allison previously miscarried twins.

Justin is called to jury service and is unable to be excused despite being near the baby's due date. He's selected to serve on a trial in which the defendant (Gabriel Basso) is accused of following his girlfriend (Francesca Eastwood, daughter of the director) after a barroom argument and running her down deliberately with his car.

As Justin listens to the attorneys present their opening statements, he realizes the details sound strangely familiar...he was in the bar around that time frame -- not drinking -- and remembers thinking he hit a deer on his way home, but when he stopped his car he couldn't find anything he'd hit, just some car damage.

Justin goes to see Larry (Kiefer Sutherland), the head of his AA group, asking him to be his attorney. Larry warns Justin off turning himself in, saying no one will believe he wasn't drinking and that he'll be locked up for years, which horrifies Justin given he's about to be a father.

This was my first issue with the film, as Justin correctly suggests that turning himself in as soon as he realizes there's a problem will cut in his favor. I was surprised at his lawyer essentially counseling him to remain silent, all the more so as given their AA relationship, one would think Larry would realize the kind of pressure the situation would put on Justin to stay sober.

Coming forward immediately and throwing himself at the mercy of the court would have been Justin's best option, but even in a later scene Larry advises Justin of tactical reasons for his benefit that the jury needs to avoid a mistrial and come to a verdict. Of course, Justin discussing deliberations outside the jury with someone else, even his attorney, is a huge no-no; Justin would have heard those instrutions and his lawyer certainly knew as well.

Of course, if Justin went to the judge with what he knew, there would be no movie, so I was willing to cut the film some slack on these issues. However, another part of the story, on top of the previously mentioned weaknesses, became so absurd it marred the movie for me.

Granted, as I wrote in my review of 12 ANGRY MEN (1957), I'm very knowledgeable about the ins and outs of murder trials due to proofreading trial transcripts for decades. But even family members without that background recognized the problems.

Harold (J.K. Simmons), one of the jurors, identifies himself to his fellow jurors during deliberations as a retired homicide detective. When asked why he didn't tell the lawyers, he says "No one asked." Harold also visits the scene of the crime and starts doing literal detective work on the case.

First, asking jurors if they or family members have legal or law enforcement backgrounds during voir dire is standard practice. It's inconceivable that not one but both attorneys didn't ask this question when selecting jurors for a murder trial. It's also extremely common for jurors to be asked if there's anything the court and attorneys should know that hasn't already been asked.

It's also a typical instruction not to investigate the scene of the crime but evaluate only the evidence presented to the jury in court.

As a detective, Harold would have sat at counsel table during murder trials over the course of his career, not simply testified as a witness, and he would personally know all of the above. The fact that he would hide his background, go to the scene, and then start doing research was simply laughable. He ultimately tells the District Attorney (Toni Collette) he felt he was upholding his oath as a police officer over his oath as a juror, but no. He doesn't get a free pass for that. He's lucky the judge (Amy Aquino) didn't hold him in contempt.

Later on, the jury visits the scene of the crime/accident and they are instructed by the judge not to discuss the case while they're there. So what happens but a lengthy discussion between Justin and another juror (Cedric Yarbrough), violating not only the judge's specific order but the general order typically given to juries to only deliberate when the entire jury is together in the jury room.

The District Attorney's job is to seek justice, whatever that might be, not guilt, so I didn't have a problem with her digging deeper into evidence while the jury deliberated, but after all that went before, we also had to go along with her not realizing that Allison was the wife of a juror when she interviewed her about car damage repairs which took place around the time of the "murder." Granted, Allison and Justin went by different last names, but Justin's name wasn't anywhere in the documentation for ownership or repair? It was just a little too cute having to buy that on top of everything else.

And I haven't even mentioned the film's open-ended, ambiguous final shots, which suggest Justin's life is about to grow more complicated...

Like 12 ANGRY MEN, a film admired by many which I strongly dislike, the entire plot is a house of cards which should have collapsed at any of several different points. The acting is fine and keeps the viewer watching till the end, but I really don't know why they chose this script, unless it was the chance to work with the great Clint Eastwood on potentially his final film. (We'll find out...!)

In the movie's favor, it's not boring, I just found it very silly throwing so much logic and common practice completely out the window. I know a number of people who've enjoyed it so "Your mileage may vary," as the saying goes.

The movie was filmed by Yves Belanger and scored by Mark Mancina.

The widescreen print is excellent, and sound quality is also good. This is a fine way to see the film if one is inclined to check it out.

There are no extras on this "manufactured on demand" disc, but it does come with a digital code to access a streaming copy via the Movies Anywhere site. The disc does include optional subtitles.

Thanks to Warner Bros. and Allied Vaughn for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. JUROR #2 may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

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Around the Blogosphere This Week

Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the Internet...

...There's been some very exciting Blu-ray release news this week! First off, the Warner Archive Collection announced a disc sure to gladden the heart of "B" Western fans: Monogram Matinee Vol. I, which will be released March 25th. It will feature three films from 4K scans of nitrate and safety archival elements: MISSISSIPPI RHYTHM (1949) starring Jimmie Davis, CRASHING THRU (1949) with Whip Wilson, and WESTERN RENEGADES (1949) starring Johnny Mack Brown. The latter film was released in the Monogram Cowboy Collection Vol. 10, but to my knowledge the other two titles are new to home viewing. I have all the Monogram Cowboy DVD sets and assumed that was the last we'd ever see as far as new releases of Monogram's "B" Westerns. The fact that this is "Vol. I" is very encouraging, and I hope everyone will support this release so that we see more in the future!

...Also coming from the Warner Archive Collection on March 25th: Joan Crawford and Franchot Tone in SADIE MCKEE (1934). I've also heard that the complete CHEYENNE TV series, originally due out last month, will be released on Blu-ray March 25th.

...Thanks to John Knight for letting me know about the MGM Blu-ray release of LADY OF VENGEANCE (1957) starring Dennis O'Keefe. It's due out February 18th.

...Some very interesting titles are coming to Blu-ray from Viavision Imprint in Australia, including IVY (1947) with Joan Fontaine and BRIDE OF VENGEANCE (1949) with favorites John Lund, Paulette Goddard, and Macdonald Carey. To my knowledge these movies have never been released for home viewing in the United States. I've noticed that sometimes a film released by Imprint will have a U.S. release a few months later, and I hope that will be the case with these films.

...Last week I shared news regarding an upcoming biography of Ray Milland, DASHING TO THE END: THE RAY MILLAND STORY. Turns out there's another Milland book on the way, due out in October from the University Press of Mississippi: RAY MILLAND: IDENTITY, STARDOM, AND THE LONG CLIMB TO THE LOST WEEKEND by Gillian Kelly. Worth noting that there's an older book on Milland, RAY MILLAND: THE FILMS, 1929-1984, by James McKay for McFarland Books, and Milland also wrote a memoir in the '70s.

...And speaking of Milland, I'm excited about an announcement of an upcoming Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-ray release of a Milland film, FRENCH WITHOUT TEARS (1940), costarring Ellen Drew. What welcome news! Kino Lorber also just announced the Dark Side of Cinema XXVI collection, featuring DR. BROADWAY (1942), SMOOTH AS SILK (1946), and THE GREAT GATSBY (1949). The latter film, starring Alan Ladd, will also have a single-title release. I'll share the release date here when it's available.

...UK Blu-ray producer Powerhouse Indicator's April titles are LITTLE MAN, WHAT NOW? (1934), SPAWN OF THE NORTH (1938), DANGEROUS TO KNOW (1938), and BEHOLD A PALE HORSE (1964). The first three titles on this list were released in the U.S. by Kino Lorber Studio Classics; the Indicator releases have new extras, including a Jeremy Arnold commentary track on DANGEROUS TO KNOW.

...A Connecticut lawmaker has proposed legislation requiring movie theaters to state the actual time movies start, rather than when the pre-movie ads and trailers start.

...I came across an interesting title published by Abbeville Press last November: MOXIE: THE DARING WOMEN OF CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD by Ira M. Resnick and Raissa Bretana. It profiles a number of actresses including Claudette Colbert, Ida Lupino, Kay Francis, Barbara Stanwyck, and more.

...A long-lost film directed by and starring Francis Ford, brother of John, has been found. THE HEART OF LINCOLN (1915) was located in an archive last year and has now been digitally preserved.

...Some of the latest reviews I've enjoyed reading: Colin recently wrote about Douglas Sirk's THE TARNISHED ANGELS (1957) at Riding the High Country...Over at Speakeasy Kristina's latest posts include reviews of MANHATTAN MELODRAMA (1934) and JOHNNY EAGER (1942)...Karen Burroughs Hannsberry writes about BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (1955) at Shadows and Satin...Rick revisited THE RED SHOES (1948) at Classic Film & TV Cafe...and CineSavant Glenn Erickson has taken a look at GABRIEL OVER THE WHITE HOUSE (1933) and the Dark Side of Cinema XXIII collection at Trailers From Hell. This Dark Side set contains ROPE OF SAND (1949), KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE (1950), and NEVER LOVE A STRANGER (1958).

...Notable Passings: Actress-Singer Olga James, who appeared in CARMEN JONES (1954), has died at 95...Actor Tony Roberts has passed on at 85...Disney animator Joe Hale has passed away at 99. His long career included work on some of my all-time favorite Disney films, including ALICE IN WONDERLAND (1951), PETER PAN (1953), and SLEEPING BEAUTY (1959).

...For additional recent links of interest to classic film fans, please visit my February 1st column.

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Tonight's Movie: The Ballad of Josie (1967) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

THE BALLAD OF JOSIE (1967), one of the last handful of films made by the great Doris Day, was recently released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

This was also one of just a handful of Day films I'd not yet seen, so I was glad to finally catch up with it thanks to this new release. It was only a so-so movie, but I enjoy watching Day in pretty much anything.

I could tell the movie would be a little odd right off the bat when the title song wasn't sung by Day but by Ronnie Dante. It was...unmemorable. Day never sings in this film, which is strictly a Western comedy.

I use the word "comedy" advisedly, as while it has some amusing moments, much of the movie features characters fighting over any number of situations, while spousal abuse and misogyny are treated as lighthearted subjects. Even taking into account that it was made a few decades ago, the screenplay, written by Harold Swanton, was on the strange side.

As the movie begins in a small town in Wyoming territory, Josie Minick (Day) and her little boy Luther (Teddy Quinn) prepare for the imminent arrival home of Josie's drunken, violent husband Whit (Robert Lowery). They secure breakables and then lock themselves in their rooms in what's obviously a familiar routine.

The only thing that doesn't go according to the usual plan is Whit falling backwards off the staircase and killing himself -- which unbelievably results in Josie standing trial for murder.

Josie is acquitted, but her powerful father-in-law Alpheus (Paul Fix) is awarded custody of Luther until Josie can show a means of supporting her son. Josie looks for work and finally hits on the idea of returning to a homestead she and her husband claimed outside town. She initially thinks of raising cattle, but convinced it's too difficult, she instead hits on the idea of an easier sheep herd...which doesn't go over well with the cattlemen in town, especially Arch Ogden (George Kennedy).

This film is a rather odd duck, so to speak. It's a watchable 102 minutes, with a deep cast which includes not only Day and the previously mentioned actors but Peter Graves, Andy Devine, William Talman, Harry Carey Jr., David Hartman, Don Stroud, Audrey Christie, Elisabeth Fraser, and Ed Faulkner.

That said, it's really just not a particularly good movie, basically one long shouting match with various characters fighting and saying obnoxious things about women. I'm far from a "politically correct" viewer but the overall tone was simply unpleasant. That's a bit ironic as Wyoming Territory was the only place in the U.S. which gave women the vote. (For more on that, I recommend Loretta Young in the hard-to-find but delightful THE LADY FROM CHEYENNE.)

I have a soft spot for Graves and find him attractive, but even he was annoying much of the time playing Josie's old friend -- and new suitor -- Jase. While Jase eventually comes around to Josie's way of thinking and becomes supportive, it's not before he says a number of regrettable things himself.

It also doesn't help that, as was typical for period films released in the '60s, Day has a big bubble of a '60s bouffant hairdo which looks completely out of place. I wrote a bit more about this odd '60s phenomenon in my review of NIGHT OF THE GRIZZLY (1966).

Among the cast I particularly enjoyed seeing Faulkner as the livery stable man. I had the pleasure of seeing Faulkner at a couple of Lone Pine Film Festivals. A decade ago he gave an hour-long extemporaneous talk in which he spoke warmly of both John Wayne and this film's director, Andrew V. McLaglen, who each gave him considerable work over the years.

THE BALLAD OF JOSIE was filmed in widescreen Technicolor by Milton R. Krasner. The Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-ray print looks and sounds great. This may not be Day's best film, but for Day completists -- and I am one -- this is certainly a fine option for seeing the movie.

Disc extras consist of a commentary track by Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell; the trailer, remastered in 2K; and a gallery of five additional trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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